Here is what we found today for California Energy Efficiency rebates and incentives. Incentives and rebates help decrease time to return on investment for Energy Efficiency projects. Energy Optimization Projects offer long-term benefits for operating and energy spend reductions while increasing energy conservation. Successful energy management program factors heavily in determining the success – and sustainability of your organization. There are multiple California energy efficiency rebates and incentive programs available which help decrease the costs for implementing energy efficiency strategies and equipment.
Because there are so many programs out there, we are putting together a state by state resource list identifying some of the available incentive/rebate programs. This list only highlights some of the available California incentives. If your location is not listed, give us a call and we will gladly help you find available incentives for your project.
Alameda Municipal Power Anaheim Public Utilities Burbank Water and Power City of Palo Alto
City of San Francisco Glendale, California Imperial Irrigation District
Los Angeles Department of Water and Power Modesto Irrigation District Pacific Power
PG&E Redding Electric Riverside California Utility City of Roseville CA
Savings by Design Southern California Edison San Diego Gas & Electric
Silicon Valley Power Sacramento Municipal Utility District SoCalGas
Truckee Donner Public Utility District
Alameda Municipal Power
Alameda Municipal Power offers an energy-efficiency program called Energy Plus which offers rebates for interior and exterior lighting, including LED lighting, HVAC and refrigeration.
AMP offers design grants and rebates for new construction to encourage energy efficiency and to exceed the standards set by Title 24 Building Energy Efficiency standards not to exceed $150,000 per customer or 75% of the incremental costs.
Other rebates offered by Alameda Municipal Power include customized commercial rebates, commercial HVAC rebates, and Lighting retrofits.
Anaheim Public Utilities
Anaheim Public Utilities has several commercial energy incentives including air conditioning, motor, new construction, and lighting. They offer a comprehensive energy audit program and customized energy incentives. Their “Dusk to Dawn” lighting program provides free “high-efficiency LED lights with photo sensors that automatically turn lights on at dusk and off at dawn.”
Burbank Water and Power
Burbank Water and Power offer a Business Bucks program for small to mid-sized businesses. The program offers up to $5000 for recommended retrofits. The first step in the program is a free energy survey by a BWP certified resource manager. Past participants may participate in the program a second time.
Other programs offered by BWP include:
- A/C Tune-Up Program – a subsidized HVAC tune-up program for commercial and residential customers.
- Business Rebates – This rebate is for replacing inefficient equipment with new efficient equipment. The incentive caps at 25% of the installed cost not to exceed $100,000 annually.
- LED Lighting Retrofits – This incentive pays $.10 per kilowatt-hour over a one-year period. There is also another incentive for other lighting retrofits including replacement of exit signs.
- HVAC retrofit incentives are offered as a three-tier sliding scale based on the efficiency rating of the unit.
- Other rebates available for commercial customers include heat Pump retrofits, Chiller Retrofits, motor replacements, and new construction and renovations using energy saving designs.
City of Palo Alto
The city of Palo Alto offers custom commercial and industrial energy efficiency rebates through an established energy efficiency program that begins with an on-site energy audit. The audit terminates with a list of recommendations for reducing costs and emissions. Following the implementation, the energy use is measured to determine the amount eligible for the rebate.
Other programs offered by the City of Palo Alto include:
- The Commercial Advantage Program offers rebates for prescriptive and custom energy efficiency measures for existing buildings. CPAU has an online catalog of available prescriptive rebates located here. Examples of prescriptive rebates available are:
- Commercial dishwashers
- Heat pump water heaters
- Boilers
- HVAC fan VSD
- Anti-sweat Heater controls
- Refrigeration Equipment
- Upgrade Evaporator fan motor
- Fan Cycling Controller
- Display cases with doors
- Strip curtains for walk-in coolers & freezers
- LED case lighting
- Rebates for restaurants and commercial kitchens
- Custom Rebates are available to businesses which receive service from CPAU for approved retrofit measures for equipment listed in the rebate catalog (link above).
City of San Francisco, California energy efficiency rebates
The City of San Francisco offers incentives and rebates through their Department of the Environment office program SF Energy Watch. The incentive offer includes a free energy assessment, lighting rebates, HVAC equipment and controls, and Refrigeration Equipment and Controls.
Glendale, California
Glendale California 
offers business customers incentives up to $50,000 per fiscal year for completion of pre-approved energy-saving projects. Retrofit projects are limited to 20% of eligible project costs or 100% of the incremental costs to bring a remodeling or new construction project above Title 24 minimum standards.
Imperial Irrigation District
Imperial Irrigation District offers multiple incentive programs. The Energy Rewards Rebate Program offers incentives for updating HVAC, PTAC, thermostats, motors, and vending misers. The Custom Energy Solutions Program offers incentives for upgrading energy efficient equipment. This program bases incentive amounts on calculated kWh saved for one year, with refrigeration and HVAC garnering the highest rebate amount at $.25 per kWh saved. The program requires a preliminary energy analysis to determine eligibility.
Los Angeles Department of Water and Power
The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power offers a wide selection of energy conservation incentive and rebate programs ranging from commercial lighting to water conservation. Several programs offered are outlined below. To see all LADWP programs, click here.
- Retrocommissioning Program offers a cash incentive of $.15 kWh saved (annualized).
- Demand Response Program offers incentives for businesses that utilize an energy management program to reduce utility during peak power demand times. The incentive is based on the energy curtailment capacity and the number of events.
- New Construction- Commercial offers incentives for design for construction of high-performance energy-efficient buildings.
Modesto Irrigation District
Modesto Irrigation District offers rebate programs for commercial, industrial and agricultural customers for the purchase and installation of energy-efficient products. Find complete details on eligible products in the MPower Business Rebate Catalog. A few of the eligible rebates include:
- Night covers on open display cases – $2.75 per linear vertical or horizontal foot.
- LED Refrigerated Case Lighting – $5.00 per linear foot.
- Occupancy Sensors – $3.75 per sensor (wall switch) and $41.00 per wall or ceiling-mounted sensor.
- Photocells – $8.00 per.
- VFD for HVAC fans – $70 per Hp.
- Variable Refrigerant Flow Multi-Split Ac & Heat pump – $110 to $125 per ton.
Pacific Power
Pacific Power offers incentives through the wattsmart Energy Efficiency Program. Incentives are available for multiple energy efficient measures, including Lighting, Lighting Controls, Evaporative cooling, Rooftop controls, VFDs, Building Envelope, among others.
Energy Management – Incentives for energy management include up to $.02 per kWh for verified energy savings. This program requires an additional application to the wattsmart business program.
PG&E
PG&E offers multiple energy efficiency product rebates. Rebate catalogs can be accessed here. Rebates and incentives are available for qualified energy-efficient products, LED lighting upgrades, HVAC, water heating, and more. The refrigeration rebate catalog outlines the following incentives:
- Anti-sweat heater controls
- Efficient evaporator fan motors
- Auto-closers for Walk-In Coolers and freezer doors
- Evaporator fan controllers for walk-in coolers and freezers
- LT display cases with special doors
- Vending machine controllers
Redding Electric
Redding Electric Commercial Energy Efficiency Rebate program offers California energy efficiency rebates for Commercial Kitchen, HVAC, Lighting, and Refrigeration. The program also offers custom incentives for energy saving measures that do not fall within the prescriptive measures outlined.
Riverside California Utility
Riverside California Utility’s Energy Efficiency program offers rebates and incentives in several categories. Air conditioner, premium motor, thermal energy storage lighting incentives, LED instant rebate and Energy Management Systems.
The Energy Management System program helps cover the cost of EMS installation or upgrade of an existing EMS system. The incentive is based on calculated energy savings at $.08 per kWh saved. The program limits customers to one capped rebate per program per fiscal year per location. You can download the application here.
City of Roseville CA
The City of Roseville offers business customers rebates in the following categories:
- Customized Rebate– Roseville Electric Utility’s customized California energy efficiency rebates program is for business customers who install peak daytime load reducing measures not covered under the prescriptive rebates. For a project to be eligible, it must achieve a permanent demand reduction of a minimum 20kW. The rebate pays up to $600 per kW reduced. The highest rebate is available when consulting with the utility during the design phase.
- Food Service – Available for installation of high-performance food service equipment as listed in the PG&E Food Service Technology Center.
- HVAC and Window Film
- Lighting
- New Construction
Savings by Design
Savings by Design is a state-wide California energy efficiency rebate program for new construction with participation from multiple utility companies, including:
- Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E)
- Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD)
- San Diego Gas and Electric (SDG&E)
- Southern California Edison (SCE)
- Southern California Gas Company (SoCalGas)
- Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP)
The program offers up-front design assistance as well as owner incentives for projects that exceed Title 24 minimum requirements by at least 10%. The maximum incentive is $150,000 per project.
Southern California Edison
Southern California Edison offers business customers options for Continuous Energy Improvement, Energy Benchmarking and SCE EnergyManager. Express Solutions offers incentives to business customers, regardless of size, for upgrading equipment like food service, refrigeration, HVAC and lighting. These incentives as well as custom solutions, Retrocommissioning are outlined in the SCE Solutions Directory, recently updated in September 2018.
The extensive list of eligible equipment upgrades includes building controls for most components or systems. Click here for more information on building controls.
San Diego Gas & Electric
San Diego Gas & Electric offers both rebates and incentives for improving energy efficiency. The incentive program provides cash incentive based on energy savings for equipment retrofits and new equipment installations. The more energy saved, the higher the incentive up to 50% of your project cost or 100% of allowable incentive amount. San Diego Gas & Electric also offers several other programs which reward customers for reducing energy, for more information, click here. A few of the programs include:
- Program to reduce energy use between 2 pm and 6 pm.
- Critical Peak Pricing.
- AC Saver.
The SDGE Energy Innovation center offers more than 250 free training classes, a tool lending library and more.
Silicon Valley Power
Silicon Valley Power, City of Santa Clara offers several California energy efficiency rebates for new construction and existing buildings. Program descriptions available as a PDF here. SVP offers a controls program with pre-approval from SVP. The program requires annual re-commissioning for participants. For more information on re-commissioning, also called an “energy tune-up”, see our recent blog post, Energy Tune-Up Road Map.
Sacramento Municipal Utility District
Sacramento Municipal Utility District offers California energy efficiency rebates for Lighting upgrades, refrigeration, and HVAC. Express Energy solutions rebates can pay as much as $20,000 per account per year. Custom Incentives are available for projects which do not qualify for express solutions. SMUD offers a Custom Energy Efficiency Procedures Manual outlining program requirements. A few of the
express solution rebates include:
- Anti-sweat heater controls
- High-efficiency fan motors
- Auto door closers
- Strip Curtains
- Commercial refrigerators
- Freezers
- Ice-Makers
- Ovens
- TLED
- Hi Bay
- Exits Signs
- Exterior Lighting
- Lighting Controls
- Refrigeration Case Lighting
- Package unit and split system replacements
SoCalGas
SoCalGas offers incentives for California energy efficiency rebates for projects such as equipment replacements, improvement of existing processes and new efficient equipment, processes or construction. The incentives on qualifying projects “can be as high as $1 million per project and $2 million per premise, per year, and are determined based on the project type, cost, and savings.” To read testimonials from SoCalGas customers ok at this page of their site. One customer received a $450,000 incentive, another $23,500.
Truckee Donner Public Utility District
Truckee Donner Public Utility District offers both commercial lighting and commercial refrigeration rebates. Their Commercial Refrigeration Retrofit Program provides customers with free energy efficient upgrades. For additional information on rebate programs, contact Lauren Schaake-Hudson, Conservation Program Administrator.
